


like hope, love abides

by princessoftheworlds



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Children of Earth Compliant, Episode: s11e06 Demons of the Punjab, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, M/M, Post-Season/Series 03 Fix-It, Post-Season/Series 12, Series 03 Fix-It: Children of Earth (Torchwood), Shotgun Wedding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:07:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23168983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princessoftheworlds/pseuds/princessoftheworlds
Summary: "Actually," Jack says, eyes sparkling, and she hopes that an innuendo or invitation for a threesome won't follow, "I was wondering if you would want to marry us."Excitement explodes across the Doctor's mind like bubbles from the champagne that Gwen disappeared to fetch. "Of course!" She claps her hands together. "I'm ordained on twenty-seven different planets and in six different galaxies. When-""Now," Jack says hurriedly."Hold on," interjects Ianto. "Who's getting married to who? You haven't evenbloody asked meyet."
Relationships: Gwen Cooper/Rhys Williams, Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, Owen Harper/Toshiko Sato, The Doctor/River Song (mentioned), Thirteenth Doctor & Jack Harkness
Comments: 68
Kudos: 326





	like hope, love abides

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hellskitchensmurdock](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellskitchensmurdock/gifts).



> God, I haven't posted a fic in over...six months. I'll just blame that on school and everything and not the fact that I spent the last six months rewatching Torchwood and Doctor Who, reading fic, and working on my novel rather than writing fic. Lmao.
> 
> This is technically my first Torchwood and my first Doctor Who. I blame Jacks Man Hole on Twitter for making me write this, tho total credit goes to Elliott who made [the shitpost](https://twitter.com/ellseeraines/status/1238969338494963713) that inspired this fic. Thanks to Ainsley for editing so quickly!
> 
> Title is from S11E6, Demons of the Punjab, and that quote is also referenced in the fic. I love that episode so much.

After everything has been said and done, after Jack has broken the Doctor from the Judoon prison and returned her to Yaz, Ryan, and Graham, the Doctor decides to make right what for what she should have done a decade (in linear time) ago. She returns to the acid-mining factory and steals several gallons of the Flesh, hiding away from Bowtie, Amy, and Rory. After that, it’s not too hard to steal three samples of DNA. Then she takes her TARDIS for a spin.

Owen Harper and Toshiko Sato are easily replaced with Ganger versions of themselves, Owen moments before he enters the nuclear reactor and Tosh before she leaves for the warehouse with the rest of Torchwood. It’s a little harder tricking the Owen-Ganger into failing to realize that he’s actually alive before the nuclear meltdown, but the Chula nanogenes are quite handy in bringing him back to life - okay, so it’s a little bit more complicated than resurrecting a walking corpse, but ordinary humans won’t be able to understand that without a Time Lord brain and education. 

Saving Ianto Jones is a little bit trickier. After Owen and Tosh’s deaths, Jack refused to let Ianto and Gwen leave his sight, so the Doctor settles for pulling Ianto Jones from the House of the Dead moments before the Rift explodes, sealing itself.

The Ganger should last a few days, she reckons.

As her three rescues lay resting on the TARDIS, still unconscious from when she stunned them, the Doctor pilots her ship for her final destination...

* * *

As expected, at the Doctor’s final destination - Gwen Cooper-Williams’s house in Cardiff, Wales in 2020, there are tears and kissing. _So much kissing_ , the Doctor thinks as she wrinkles her nose. At one point, the Torchwood doctor - and boy, did Owen have a leer for the tiny blonde when he realized that she was in fact _Jack’s Doctor_ \- has to push a hand between Jack and Ianto’s tight embrace and attempt to pry them apart as they continue to kiss like the world might be ending.

_Well, it might_. And just to be sure, the Doctor checks the TARDIS. Just like she thought, there’s no scheduled disaster on Earth, specifically near Cardiff, for another week. 

“Thank you, Doctor,” Jack sighs as he wraps an arm around her, the other one still draped possessively around Ianto’s shoulders, and pulls her in for a tight hug. The laser-like blue in his eyes is diluted by the tears pooling in them. "Thank you."

"Of course," she says, words squashed by the alarmingly well-muscled chest her face is squished into. She wiggles her head free from under his arm, aware of the dark blue cotton of his shirt wrinkling, and peers up at him, hoping that she won't have to comfort him. As she's learned from her experience with Graham, she's not the best with emotions or comfort. "Anything for an old friend." She doesn't admit that she now realizes that she should have done this the last time she saw him as Sandshoes; she hopes that Jack enjoyed Alonso's company anyway. 

Jack plants an enthusiastic but wet kiss on the crown of her head and releases her, returning his other arm to Ianto.

Finally, after the Torchwood team has calmed down a bit and the Doctor has begun to inch towards her TARDIS as Gwen disappears to fetch a bottle of champagne she claims that Rhys bought at some point, Jack returns back to the Doctor's side. He has - in fact- let go of Ianto by now, but they still remain close as they approach the Doctor.

"Thank you, Doctor," Ianto says quietly. It's the first words she's heard him say so far besides the noises of protest he made when she knocked him out. 

She studies him: she's never met him before aside from the video call when the Daleks stole the Earth, and that was a lifetime ago. Well, several lifetimes ago. He's as tall as Jack with a quiet voice that she heard him use for witty remarks so far and clever eyes. She's starting to see why Jack likes him.

"Anything for Jack," she replies with a bright smile. "Speaking of, is there anything else I can do for you two fine gentlemen?"

"Actually," Jack says, eyes sparkling, and she hopes that an innuendo or invitation for a threesome won't follow, "I was wondering if you would want to marry us."

Excitement explodes across the Doctor's mind like bubbles from the champagne that Gwen disappeared to fetch. "Of course!" She claps her hands together. "I'm ordained on twenty-seven different planets and in six different galaxies. When-"

" _Now_ ," Jack says hurriedly. 

"Hold on," interjects Ianto. "Who's getting married to who? You haven't even _bloody asked me_ yet."

The excitement fades a bit from Jack's face as he turns to Ianto. "Will you marry-"

"Of course I will!" Ianto exclaims. "It's just quite abrupt to go from ‘ _Are we a couple_ ?’ to ‘ _Will you marry me_?’"

Jack places urgent hands on Ianto's shoulders. "Look, you've been gone from my life for a decade now, and I've just got you back." He presses a quick, sweet kiss to Ianto's slack mouth. "I love you with every bone in my body, even the ones that grow back, and without a doubt, I want to marry you."

When Ianto doesn't protest, continuing to stare up at Jack, faintly stunned, the Doctor claps her hands together again and swishes the tails of her coat behind her dramatically. "Brilliant! Now, where do you want to get married? I can take you to Arcadia, the planet Barcelona, _the city_ of Barcelona, Darillium-" 

She's grateful when Jack cuts her off, hoping that no one heard how her voice had begun to quiver. "Actually, Doctor," begins Jack, exchanging glances with Ianto, "I was hoping that we could get married here, at Gwen's house, with all our friends, today." Beside him, Ianto is beginning to smile.

"Brilliant!" the Doctor repeats and heads towards the TARDIS. "I'll be back in ten minutes. Ish." She pokes her head out once before pulling the door shut behind her. "And Mrs Cooper-Williams, hold off on the champagne for a bit. We'll need it for the wedding!"

* * *

Thirty - rather than ten - minutes later, thanks to some rather savvy piloting on the Doctor's behalf, she lands back in Gwen's living room only to find everything covered with twinkling lights and shades of silver and blue. There is a blue-draped dining table piled on with what the Doctor presumes to be wrapped dishes of food.

" _Wot_?" the Doctor says, glancing around, stunned.

"Oh, Doctor," Toshiko says, hurrying over. "You're back." She's changed from the practical cardigan and trousers she was kidnapped into a shimmering violet dress, complete with jewellery and heels. _What did she do to make her eyes so shiny?_

"How did you get _all this_ done in thirty minutes?" the Doctor asks.

"It's been two hours, mate," Owen replies as he saunters towards them, sliding a gentle arm around Tosh's waist. Seems that two hours was also enough to kindle something between them. "We set all this up in the meantime. Harkness and Jones went home. They'll be here in ten minutes."

The Doctor's brow furrows. "Why did they go home?"

Owen shrugs. "To fuck like rabbits probably," he says brusquely.

" _Owen_ ," Tosh hisses, swatting him on the arm, but he only smirks wryly at her.

At that moment, the Doctor's attention is bustled away by Gwen approaching her. Every time, she glances at Jack's close friend, she is reminded of Gwyneth, which is not helped by the mini-Gwen following behind her mother who the Doctor has been informed is named Anwen.

"Yes, Gwen?" the Doctor asks.

Gwen inhales sharply, eyes wide and bright. "I didn't have a chance to tell you this earlier, Doctor," she begins, moisture gleaming at the corners of her eyes, and the Doctor is afraid that she's going to be cried on again for a moment, "but thank you for bringing my family back to me." She sighs, glancing behind her at her daughter. "I may have Rhys and Anwen, but I didn't realize how incomplete we were until you brought everyone back." She leans in a bit more closely. "When Owen and Tosh died, I saw Jack break a little, but when he lost Ianto, it was like a part of him died with each new death. He wasn't the same when he came back the first time and realized that Ianto was gone."

"I know," the Doctor tells Gwen, and she really does. When the Doctor had gotten her first good look at Jack after he broke her out of prison, she had realized that he was missing a familiar light in his eyes. The familiar smirk had still been there, but it had been just a tiny bit emptier. "I understand."

True to Owen’s word, it is barely another ten minutes before there is a knock at the door, and Jack barrels through when it’s opened by Gwen, followed by Ianto. Both men have changed, Jack into another blue shirt - barely a shade lighter than the one he was wearing earlier - and grey suspenders with his trademark greatcoat and Ianto in a dark suit with light pinstripes - quite reminiscent of Sandshoes, the Doctor realizes - and a red shirt. 

When Gwen lays eyes on them, she sighs, shaking her head. “Couldn’t even dress up a bit for your own wedding, could you?” 

It is unclear who exactly she’s referring to.

“ _Hey_!” Jack says, holding his hands up to declare his innocence. He’s grinning widely. “Classics never go out of style.”

“Besides,” Ianto adds, “it’s hard to dress up for your wedding when you’ve been legally dead for a decade. All my possessions were either sold off or taken by my sister. I was lucky enough to find this suit.”

“ _If you hadn’t spent those two hours fucking_ ,” Owen murmurs into the curve of Tosh’s neck, smiling angelically when Ianto glares at him, “ _you could have perhaps both found tuxes_.”

Having been eavesdropping, the Doctor chooses that moment to come bouncing out of the TARDIS where she was putting the finishing touches on her speech. “Are our two grooms ready?” she asks, bouncing on the heels of her feet. 

They gather under the archway that connects Gwen’s living room to her kitchen. There’s only enough space for the Doctor, Jack, and Ianto under the archway and the rest of them - Torchwood, Gwen’s husband Rhys, and her daughter Anwen - spill into the living room, standing not too far. Gwen is to Jack’s left, Tosh to Ianto’s right, with Owen, Rhys, and Anwen arched out between them. 

The Doctor tucks a loose lock of hair behind her ear. She remembers the last wedding she officiated, the weight of the yellow flower in her hair, Yaz gazing sadly at her nani and the man who died for her family to exist, the heavy sorrow and the muted elation that had weighed down the Doctor’s hearts. 

_Love, in all its forms, is the most powerful weapon we have, because love is a form of hope and, like hope, love abides in the face of everything. You both found love with each other. You believed in it, you fought for it, and you waited for it. And now, you're committing to it. Which makes you, right now, the two strongest people on this planet. Maybe in this universe._

Here, the circumstances are different. There is no approaching death. Instead, there is life, hard-fought and brought back. It’s a reunion as well as a union.

The Doctor pulls a familiar length of cloth from the pocket of her coat and caresses it gently. Jack watches her curiously. With a quiet cough, she clears her throat. “Captain,” she says, turning to Jack, “you’re an old friend for whom I should have done more, and Mr Jones,” she turns to Ianto, “you’re a fine man who managed to capture the heart of a fixed point for so long. I never asked what kind of ceremony either of you wanted, so I hope you will allow me to marry you in a way familiar to my own hearts.” When both men nod in permission, she smiles faintly. “Gentlemen, please link hands.”

Exchanging a smile with Ianto, Jack reaches out and slowly takes the other man’s hand, tangling their fingers together.

The Doctor holds up the cloth and pulls it taut, beginning to wrap one end over Jack’s hand and travelling it over to Ianto’s hand, literally binding them together. “This is the bowtie that married River Song and I, and now, it will marry the two of you.” Jack’s eyes soften with understanding, but before he can interject, the Doctor forges on. “I have seen the beginning of one universe and the end of time itself, and in my all innumerable years, I know few things to be certain but that love will subsist.” She pauses, surveying the handful of humans gathered around her. “Humans are my favourite species for a reason. You have the power to love, dream, and hope in a way other species do not; some humans have the strength to carry the power of the Time Vortex itself. And the stories you tell; they survive beyond death itself. I carry several stories of humans with me, and your love will be another one I will carry with for as long as time allows.”

As the Doctor glances down, unable to meet anyone’s eyes, thrown back to all the humans she’s ever loved, someone sniffles. When she glances back up, Jack is beaming, wet tear tracks gleaming down his cheeks, while Ianto’s expression remains impassive, though his eyes are soft and he’s smiling slightly. 

“Contrary to popular belief,” Jack begins, smirking, “I’ve only been married once before. At least that I know of.” (The Doctor doubts this; she remembers telling Clara that she might have married Jack once.) “She was young, and I lost her to sickness barely a year into our marriage. Now, she exists only in my memories.” He fixes Ianto with a watery gaze. “When you lay dying in my arms, I promised you to remember for a thousand years. As I told you in the House of the Dead, there is only one Ianto Jones, and I will remember you as long as I live.”

The Doctor inhales sharply, watching Jack lay himself bare in front of his family and friends - entendre definitely not intended - in a way he so rarely does. 

Ianto chuckles wetly. “I have no words, Jack,” he says. “I have never been an expressive man, and I spent my entire life reinventing myself. I lied to you about Lisa, I lied to you about my father, but in Thames House and in the House of the Dead, I never lied about loving you. I hope that says enough about who I am and what you mean to me.”

“Short and succinct,” Owen murmurs just loud enough to be heard by everyone.

“Short, succinct, and sweet,” adds Tosh, using a silk handkerchief to pat at her teary eyes.

The Doctor ducks her head, allowing her hair to fall and hide her face. She smiles sadly before finally glancing back up. Her smile widens until she’s beaming, no shadow of sadness anywhere to be seen in her bright features. Her hazel eyes hold the universe in them as she places a gentle hand to cover where Jack and Ianto’s hands remain bound. “With that,” she says, “I believe we can proceed with the actual vows.” She turns to Ianto. “Do you, Ianto Alun Jones, take Javic Piotr Thane-”

Ianto, who had been nodding along until now, freezes and glances up abruptly. “Do I take _who_?” His expression is entirely bewildered.

Beside him, Jack has stiffened. “How did you find out, Doctor?” he asks, but there is no trace of malice or discomfort in his tone. His smile remains; it has become more accepting.

“Funny story,” the Doctor says, fiddling with the sleeves of her coat. “The TARDIS took me to the Boeshane Peninsula in the fifty-first century, and I met a _brilliant_ , gorgeous woman who told me about her brave older son Javic who joined the Time Agency and made his people proud.” She sighs. “I told her about the clever Time Agent who helped save a city from his own mistakes, who settled down so far from home and led his own people to keep the Earth safe.”

“Mom,” Jack chokes out wetly, but now has come one of the few times that the Doctor has seen him at a loss of words.

The Doctor nods. “I may have told her about the brilliant, _brilliant_ man who fell for her brave son Javic.”

Roughly wiping tears from his eyes with his free hand, Jack turns to Ianto. “I was born with the name Javic Piotr Thane, but I have been Jack Harkness for far longer than I was Javic,” he explains. “I won’t see my mother for another three thousand years, but when I do, I will tell her about you.”

“Javic, Jack,” Ianto says, “whatever your name, it doesn’t matter; I still take you to be my husband-to-be.”

Smiling, the Doctor turns to Jack. “And do you, Javic Piotr Thane, Captain Jack Harkness, the Face of Boe, take Ianto Alun Jones as your husband-to-be?”

Jack takes no time in nodding hastily. “Yes,” he says without hesitating. “I do.”

“And Ianto?”

“I do, I do,” Ianto replies quickly. 

“Just checking,” the Doctor jokes, and she hears several members of the Torchwood team chuckle. She pulls out her sonic screwdriver and aims it at the bowtie woven around Jack and Ianto’s wrists. “With the power invested in me by….well, the TARDIS, I pronounce you husband and husband. Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones, you are bound together throughout time and space.” With a buzz of her sonic screwdriver, the knot holding the bowtie together tugs loose, and the bowtie slips from their wrists. The Doctor catches it deftly and tucks it back into her pocket. A moment later, she changes her mind and slips the bowtie back out, knotting it around her left wrist. _A reminder of River_ , she thinks. _A reminder of love_. “You may now kiss...each other,” she trails, because barely a moment after she began to speak, Jack had reached quickly for Ianto.

They kiss solidly and desperately, Jack’s palms clutching Ianto’s face, thumbs stroking along his cheekbones, and the other man’s hands fisted in Jack’s suspenders. 

The Doctor turns her head away slightly as they part, gasping for breath, and she hears Jack whisper, “ _I love you_.” It remains a moment to be shared only between them; she almost wishes that she, Torchwood, and the Cooper-Williams were not here to steal it from them.

When both men straighten up, they glance behind them to find Gwen and Rhys clapping wildly, Gwen’s head nestled on Rhys’s shoulder. Tosh and Owen have linked hands, and behind them and behind her parents, a young Anwen watches curiously, clutching a drooping bouquet of flowers in a loose grip. 

“Time to crack open that champagne bottle, mate,” Rhys cheers, but it is unclear if he is referring to anyone in particular.

Jack is beaming, laughing giddily, wrapping Ianto in a tight hug, and Ianto only has eyes for his new husband. 

  
Every new day in the life of an immortal, the Doctor has realized, brings uncertainties. There can be love, there can be loss, there can be new life. Sometimes there can be triumph, and sometimes there can be the lowest of lows or darkest of darks. But some days, on those certain rare _beautiful_ days, as the Doctor once said when she was a brooding man with ears that stuck out and a battered leather coat who met an earnest blond girl and a wily captain who were the definition of human, everybody lives.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr [here](http://princess-of-the-worlds.tumblr.com/) or on Twitter [here](https://twitter.com/rajkumarinik) to let me know how much you liked this fic or request a prompt.


End file.
